When A Snowflake Falls: An Alex Rider Christmas Story
by SpaceAstronautCapt.RobotKoala
Summary: A short story centered around Alex, Sabina, and their family during the holidays in the future. No summary to avoid any predisopositions and allow the reader to begin with a fresh and curious mind. Rated T for a brief mention of mature content. Hope you enjoy :)


**Note: **Hi guys! As a last minute Christmas present to everyone who's been following me from my previous Alex Rider fics (and you new readers as well), I decided to write a short Christmas story to make up for the long wait you've been enduring for the OISAB sequel, which, in all honesty, I haven't made much progress with. Yes, I know Christmas was yesterday, but I didn't have a chance the past few days to at least finish Part One and edit it until now. Hopefully I can get Part Two up within the next week. Also, I decided to skip writing a summary to allow you to read without having any clue what this is about... I feel that it would be a better experience that way :)

Please review, I would love to know what you think! I hope you all had a great time, whatever holiday you celebrate, and Happy New Year's too! :) xx

I own nothing except the products of my imagination.

When A Snowflake Falls

_"We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake…" – Francis Bacon, Sr._

**Part One**

"I'm sorry, Sabina."

Sabina Rider took a slow, deep breath through her nose and shook her head, though her husband couldn't see her. "It's all right, Alex. Just... be safe, okay?"

"Of course. I'll see you soon," he said from the other end of the line. "I love you, Sabina."

"I love you too."

"And I'm sorry."

_Me too_, she thought before hanging up the phone. With a heavy sigh, she sat back in the rocking chair and looked around. The living room, as it always had the past four Christmases, looked like it had been "thrown up on by fireflies and attacked by a Bedazzler," as Alex liked to describe it. Every twenty-fifth of October Sabina dug up the decorations from the boxes in the attic and proceeded to spend the next two or three weeks perfecting the holiday spirit in, outside, and around the house. The tree this year was blue and white, twinkling and sparkling like the still snow and stars outside. Family portraits and handmade stockings adorned the stone fireplace where two-foot-tall dolls of Santa and Mrs. Claus stood guard. Several presents wrapped in immaculate red, green, and white designs of reindeer, Santa Claus, toys, and snowmen sat patiently under the tree, most of them addressed to Drew or Leila.

And every year on Christmas Eve before they went to bed, Alex took his son by the arms and put him on his shoulders. Every year Sabina gave her little boy the blond angel with the glittery wings to place at the very top of their Christmas tree. Every year it was the same tradition, same joy and spirit, same overwhelming sense of gratitude that they had lived another year together.

It looked like this year was going to be different.

The faint scent of gingerbread wafted through the house as she made her way down to the bedroom at the far end of the hall. None of the house lights were on; she preferred the candlelit glow on the walls and the peacefulness they emitted, especially when Christmas was so close… but it was also a personal reminder, the _only_ reminder she had these days of a time much too long ago.

Her ears picked up the sound of crashing waves as she neared the room and nudged open the door. Eventually her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the faint outlines of the furniture became more defined. The small figure of a four-year-old boy was half obscured by the mound of blankets he was wrapped in as he slept peacefully. Sabina crept close to the crib Alex had made and saw baby Leila, who was probably dreaming away in some serene, nonsensical world. She could only wish she was too.

* * *

She was awake when the first ray of sunlight broke the horizon. Lying there on her side of the bed, Sabina didn't know if she'd slept at all. It felt like she had laid her head down and blinked and now it was early morning.

The familiar sound of a baby's cry prompted her to push the covers off and get on her feet. Leila was standing in the crib, arms draped tiredly over the side. Her brown eyes were glistening and her short thin hair was plastered to her head with sweat. _Had she even cried during the night? _Sabina wondered vaguely. She reached out and took the baby into her arms, hushing her and rocking her back and forth. Turning, she saw that Drew was still asleep and, in the light streaming from the hallway, there was that crease between his brows, the kind that arose from worry and fear.

Her heart beat painfully for a moment but Sabina shoved the feelings down, closing the door behind her.

It was when she was feeding Leila in her high chair that the phone rang. Immediately her mind jumped to Alex but the hope diminished just as quickly, knowing there was no way it was him. A glance at the caller I.D. caught her off guard but then she silently scolded herself for being surprised. She took a deep breath and pushed the button.

"Hi Mum."

"Sabina, we've just arrived at the gate. We're a bit early, eighteen minutes I think. I doubt it will take long for us to fetch our bags but we'll be on a taxi soon."

"Alright, we'll be waiting."

"I hope you've got room under that tree because your father and I went a little overboard with the presents this year. I figure Drew needed some reading books before he starts school."

"That's great Mum."

There was a pause and she could hear a high pitched noise and faint chatter in the background. "Sabina, is everything alright?"

Sabina sat there with the phone held tightly to her ear as she stared at her daughter, who was shoving Cheerios in her mouth with comic impunity. Then she said, "Everything is fine. I think I hear Leila. I'd better go now but I will see you soon," and for the second time in less than twelve hours, she hung up the phone feeling overridden with remorse.

Later when she put Leila on the floor with her toys, Sabina couldn't find it in herself to eat. The bowl of Trix she'd fixed tasted bland and even seemed to mock her, the colorful little ornament-like pieces melting in the snowy white milk, turning it to an unpleasant mix of salmon and mint. She watched as the distasteful meal swirled down the drain and cleared it with one short burst from the faucet, revealing the stainless steel underneath.

She knew she couldn't welcome her parents looking the way she did. There was nothing horribly wrong with her pajamas but she felt she needed an excuse to clean up and rid herself of the sticky morning feeling and underlying sense of self-pity.

Standing before the wide mirror above her short dresser, Sabina forced herself to look her reflection in the eye. After a long moment's hesitation, she decided that all she could do was pull her hair back in a ponytail and dab concealer under her eyes, knowing that the redness they'd inherited last night was hopeless. As she changed into a comfortable sweater and the first pair of jeans she could find, her gaze fell on the photo of her and Alex just weeks before he'd proposed to her. It had been taken by his roommate at the flat he'd been living in. Both of them were smiling with their arms wound around each other and Sabina was in the middle of laughing. Alex had a goofy grin on his face, one that reached his eyes and chased away the fear and nightmares that had been hiding behind them for years.

That day that he had chosen to declare himself hers had been the longest day of her life... but certainly not long enough. She wasn't sure that there was any other moment or span of time that could surpass the happiness she had felt, aside from the births of their two beautiful children. After ten years of being together on and off but always and constantly loving each other, their time, their day and night, had finally come.

Her memories of it had never left. They would always be there, even when he wasn't, refusing to fade away like the ink on the letters he used to send her. She remembered every touch and every kiss, embedded in her skin the way his pen had pressed onto the paper, and his soft whispers had been echoed through the rustling of the envelope, the leaves, the sheets...

_She hadn't believed her at first. Despite the woman's credentials, Sabina had found it hard to trust Dr. Mayfield's answer that it was "a different experience for everyone. For some people, it can be awkward but for others... it's the best thing that's ever happened to them."_

_But now she was wondering why she had ever doubted herself._

_The memory of her visit to the doctor's office was vague now though, unimportant. Her subconscious had shoved it away in a cellar somewhere, deep down into the depths of her mind along with other unwanted, useless thoughts. In every other corner was a soft but bright light. It warmed her and sent tingles down to her toes, surrounding her with bouts of euphoria and ultimate happiness. All was well. Nothing could go wrong. Nothing would go wrong._

_Gold. That was the only way she could describe it. Everything she saw, tasted, touched was gold. The light inside of her burned like the sun... not at high noon but at sunrise when a new day began. And his hair, already an indescribable color of yellow, was lit afire by the candles flickering across the walls... and his eyes. Warm and brown no more, they shone in the dim light, always on her, always loving her._

_She couldn't have asked for more. The whisper of her name brushed across her skin and destroyed what remained of the thin chains holding down her peacefully blissful state just as wind ripped out the roots of a young tree. The tide was broken, the dam gave way, and ecstasy washed through her with such a force that 'Noah's ark' was just a bunch of words._

"Momma?"

Sabina jumped and whirled to find Drew standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. His Star Wars pajamas were crumpled and the way his light brown hair was disheveled resembled closely his father's.

_And then it was silent like the sea after the storm. The bonfire in her died down to a glow that flickered and kept her warm. Her eyes slowly roamed the darkness, searching, searching… and there he was, staring at her with an intensity that sent more electric shivers through her._

"Hi sweetie," Sabina managed to say before she walked over and knelt before her son. "Are you hungry? Nanny and Papa are going to be here soon."

"_I love you," he told her. Though he'd said it plenty of times before, everything in these moments felt like the first time: novel, radiant, beautiful… like stealing a breathtaking glance of heaven._

"Is Daddy coming too?"

Her body went cold for a moment and she opened her mouth to speak… but then took his hand and led him from the bedroom. "Let's get you something to eat first."

"_I love you too."_


End file.
